The Smackboys' Yacht

So, for a chartplotter, the boat came with a seriously old Hammerhead computer
with Windows 97 and some crappy charting software. And there was a
super cheesy "navpod" (actually an aluminum project box) at the helm with the horn and AP controls. We could definitely do better.

I have all Raymarine instruments and auto-pilot (AP). And I have a JRC
1500 radar unit with display at the nav station. Now, something like the new
Raymarine e97 chartplotter is...ready?...$3,000!!! That's just
insane. Sure, you could drop down to something like the c97 at "just"
$1,800 - but still...insane. Then you still have the chart chips to pay for, then not drop them in the water,
etc.

Compare those prices to a brand new iPad Air (with Cellular for the
GPS) at $630 (or a used iPad 2 for around $250) and the iNavX application at $50. And if you're happy with the
free NOAA charts, you now have a fairly full-featured chartplotter for WAY under $700!
Not bad. If you want a more detailed set of charts, you can
spring for the Navionics for a $10/year membership fee, and $20-$90 for each region. Both the app and the charts are continually
kept current through ongoing updates. No chips, just guac. Oh yeah.

So that was my first step as you can see in the photo below. The iPad is in a fully waterproof Lifedge
case that still gives me the screen interaction needed for
panning/zooming. I ordered the rail-mount as well, and we were up and
running for around $250 additional.

So we were now at around $1,000
for 2 fully functioning chartplotters...with the ability to add two
more for only $50 additional. AND, most importantly, our chartplotters
could be anywhere on the boat at any time - mounted or not - while also acting as media
player, email, web browser, telephone, work computer, calculator, log,
notepad, photo/video camera, flashlight, game console, you name it.
What's not to like?

Of course, this wasn't quite enough for me. I
wanted FULL integration with our boat's systems. Or, at least as I close as I could get to it.

I knew the JRC 1500 radar would
have to remain a standalone unit. I definitely preferred having radar
at the helm as I've been through those unlit oil rigs at night many
times now. But even if I bought the $3K Raymarine chartplotter, I'd
still have to replace the radar to integrate. So, we'd just have to make
do for now.

More importantly to me, I wanted all the Raymarine
instrumentation integrated with iNavX so I could have a full heads-up
display of wind, speed, depth, temp, etc. - and be able to drive the
boat via the AP from the chartplotter . I also wanted AIS overlay. So -
how to do all that?

I had heard about the Brookhouse Imux,
a WiFi NMEA 0183 multiplexer for the iPad that was designed for the
iNavx chartplotting application we were using. I did quite a bit of
research on it and some competing products such as Digital Yacht's iAIS
wireless receiver. I came very close to buying the latter as it seemed
to have everything I needed...AIS, NMEA 0183, etc. However, there were
two issues that remained...the GPS and the VHF. I wanted to keep the GPS
installation as simple as possible. All our iDevices already had
integrated GPS, so we had plenty of backup and I saw no reason to go
crazy installing an expensive "marine grade" unit. However, the iAIS
obviously needed GPS input - but was wired for a typical marine grade setup. Also, the DSC function of the VHF requires
GPS coordinates to be effective...so I needed a way to get GPS into that
system as well.

That's when I came across this post: Navigation System of The Gods. This blog guy had gone down pretty much the exact same road I was on - and had
come up with a very cool, very cost-effective solution using the iMux
(with Seatalk option), an integrated GPS puck, and the Standard Horizon GX2150
VHF radio with integrated AIS ($300). I was sold.

I had heard that
ordering the iMux from Brookhouse was iffy. It sounded like they had had
some problems fulfilling a quickly growing demand for their product.
Granted, they did have a weird ordering system (an email specifying what
you want) - but I had no problem getting what I needed...which was the
standard unit with Seatalk input and a PS2 input for the GPS puck. Price
tag: $400 + $30 for the GPS puck.

The unit finally arrived from New Zealand 3-4 weeks after I ordered it. So, all was good.

†It
looked like a pretty simple setup. But the above blog post warned that
the wiring was a bit of a challenge. I went through the documentation
that came with the iMux and immediately saw why. It was clear that the
instructions were written for those who knew what they were doing (at
least way more than I did). AND the instructions were also relatively
vague - simply because there are so many possible ways of hooking this
thing up based on the devices you are integrating. It was a bit
overwhelming. Undaunted, I knew I could figure it out - or at least get
help (hopefully) when I needed it.

So, it was time to start ripping the boat apart. This is where I was starting...the iCOM VHF that would have to come out on the lower right...

and an installation space behind the radar display, with tri-data instrument under Skippy the Fish...

then integration with the AP via SeaTalk...

So, I started ripping stuff out and got to work:

With the tri-data instrument in place, the Seatalk wiring was a snap. The
backside of the instrument looked like this...

The
"out" cable on the right went to the exterior instruments above the
companionway hatch cover. So I cut that cable, used a European Terminal
Strip and spliced in the iMux. I turned the power on to the
instruments and BOOM - power and signal...and the exterior instruments still worked!

So
that part was stupid easy. To see if I was now getting the instruments
in iNavX on the iPad, I went through the Network TCP/IP setup laid out
in the instructions (my settings were a bit different than those shown
in the image below)...

But,
as soon as I entered the correct info...BOOM! I now had a chartplotter
with integrated instrumentation. That was super cool. I plugged the GPS
puck into the PS2 connector on the iMux and I now had coordinates as
well...independent of the iPad's own GPS. We were cookin'!

And
now came the hard part: the AIS VHF. I looked at the various wiring
diagrams for the GX2150 and at how the blog guy wired his -
then compared all this with the installation instructions that came
with the iMux. It was pretty confusing to say the least.

I pulled
the iCOM radio out of the panel and immediately realized that the hole was
bigger than the GX2150 would require. So, I ran over to Walmart and
bought a $2 black plastic trash can. I cut out a rectangle of the trash can with nice
rounded corners sized so that it would cover the hole, then cut the
center out to fit the GX2150. Looked like a pro job...at least from a
couple of feet away (see below).

And now came the scary part...the wiring. Based on blog guy's setup, I pulled this wiring diagram from the GX2150 manual...

What
was tricky was that the colors coming out of the radio didn't match the
colors of the Seatalk cable I had on hand. So I had to wing it...

I then wired up the iMux as follows - matching blog guy's setup...

I flipped on the GX2150, hoping to see coordinates and AIS targets and got this...

Nothing. Bummer. So I tried messing with the baud rate, knowing there were two settings and thinking maybe the other one would work...

Still nothing...

I then tried every wiring and baud rate combination I could think of...

And ended up in exactly the same place...nothing...

Seeing
that I was clearly in over my head, I sent an email to Wout Beekhuizen,
the owner of Brookhouse. We went back and forth a couple of times and he
patiently walked me through what I needed to do. It took a couple of
times because I had trouble following his tech speak (he thought I knew what
various terms meant when I had no clue). But he never gave up on me, as
shown here:

Hi Steve,

I think my words in my previous email were misleading, Iím sorry. I may
have confused the 2150 with the 2100, which is the model I have here.

3. Connect grey/brown wires to iMux 2A/2B for DSC/DSE output of the radio
at 4800 baud(this will convert DSC/DSE sequence to a waypoint in iNavX)

4. Connect yellow / white wires to iMux 4A / 4B† (AIS 38400
baud)

This is also described on page 22 of the GX2150 manual.

I hope this helps.

Regards,

Wout BeekhuizenBrookhouse

I followed these instructions and BOOM! The VHF now had coords and targets!! (And dig that nice trash can backer panel!)

Now it was time to see if that data was broadcasting via the iMux to the iPad. I fired it up and BOOM!!

AIS targets shown in orange and gray. I tapped on one of the targets and got the AIS data for that vessel...

THIS WAS FREAKIN' COOL!!!!

Now that everything was working, I tucked the iMux into the cabinet behind the radar and screwed it down...

Then I screwed all the panels back into place and BOOM!! I had myself the Mr. Universe of Navigation Systems...

Pimpin' baby.

So, for about $1,800 all in, I have a super-cool, super-redundant, wireless set of TWO chartplotters with instrumentation - and AIS (about the same price as a single Raymarine c97...without AIS!). I'll let you know how things work out in terms of reliability and accuracy. So far so good.

Gotta Have The Grill:The
next piece of critical equipment was the Magma. Prices on those things
are pretty ridiculous. So, I tuned into the eBay for a few days and
BOOM! I scored a 17" kettle grill in great shape for $50. I then had to
buy a rail mount - and found one on eBay for another $40. So for $90 I
had a very nice setup - almost like new at WAY under half retail.

The
next step was a cover. Again, the choice was to drop another $50 on a
new cover, or do it myself for cheaper. It's a cover, how hard could it
be? So I ordered some Sunbrella fabric off of Amazon for $21 (I should
have used Sailrite - but oh well) and whipped this thing out over a
glass of wine:

A simple drawstring contraption...

And we were rollin'...

Worked
like a charm. And it only took 2 days for it to get seriously crapped
on by a stupid bird. Oh well, that's what Sunbrella is for, right?

Head Games:The
aft head had been problematic since I bought the boat. If you recall,
this is what it looked like when I first inspected it...

Gaaaa. No more curry.

The
problem was two-fold. First, this head had a macerator pump forward in
the sink cabinet then the holding tank was aft. So this meant the hose between
the head and the tank was pretty long, which meant that when you
pumped out the head, a fair amount of water (and nastiness) would flow back into the
bowl from the hose. Second, it would bubble like crazy...as if air was getting
trapped somewhere. It just wasn't working.

Knowing very little about heads at that point, I had
someone come in and replace the joker valve. And, though he assured me
it was fixed as he palmed my cash - it did exactly what it had done before. Glub, glub, glub - curry.

So
after thinking about it for a while, I began to suspect there was a
problem with the vent hose. It seemed that the bubbles were pressure coming back through the hose from the expanding tank - instead of
escaping through the vent. So I pulled the bottom out of the port
storage cabinet in the aft cabin, loosened the hose clamp and started to pull the vent
hose off when the whole thing fell apart...

As
you can see, the fitting was completely corroded and closed. There was
absolutely no air getting past that plug. The thing was so corroded, the
threads even pulled out like string. So, I put a pvc fitting in,
reattached the vent hose, and BOOM! the head was working perfectly.

Bits and Pieces:A
couple of final small projects were the reading lights and the depth
instrument. After my previous post on switching all the light fixtures over to
cheap LED bulbs...yet not being able to get the LEDs into the reading
lights...a buddy named bristol299bob on Sailnet recommended cutting off the outer cover of
the LED bulb. I did just that...

And BOOM! it worked like a charm...

Though these bulbs were the cool white color (not cool for my boat) - they'll do for now until I get the warm white.

The last piece for this post was the depth instrument. Though the numbers were still visible, the screen had burned out as shown here...

I
had read on the forums that Raymarine would often fix or replace these
things for free if you sent them in. So I thought it was worth a go. I mailed it off and am
waiting to hear back. I'll let you know how it turns out.